The Glades Star Jordan Wall Talks Gators, the Two Hollywoods, and Season Four

Memorial Day Weekend is over, which means it's time to start thinking of how you will recuperate from your three-day overconsumption of alcohol and MSGs. It's no secret that one of the preferred ways to recover from a well-celebrated MDW is to vegetate on the couch and watch a hit crime series. Luckily, The Glades has returned to TV for season four on A&E.

Florida-native Jordan Wall, who plays the hyper-intelligent lab technician Daniel Green on The Glades, is no stranger to Florida's quirks and charms. Unlike other popular television crime series set in Florida, the show is completely filmed here, which allows the actor to split his time between Hollywood, Florida, and Hollywood, California.

The other Hollywood hasn't changed anything about Wall, though. In many respects, he is a lot like Daniel Green--he's a genuine nice guy with a goofy personality and he reserves a soft spot for the Sunshine State through and through.

We had a phone date with Wall to talk about what to expect in season 4 of The Glades as well as Florida Gators, and his actual lack of knowledge in forensics.

New Times: So, first things first: I hear you're a Florida Gator.

Jordan Wall: I am a Florida Gator. I sense something personal behind your tone there. Are you a Gator or are you on the other side?

I'm a diehard Canes fan.

I had this weird, freaky feeling you were going to say that, but it's all right. Nobody's perfect, you know?

But yeah, I am a Florida Gator. I graduated in '07 and I was a broadcast major. It was a good time to be there. I covered our national football championship team and then back-to-back basketball championships.

You split your time between South Florida and L.A. If you had to pick between the two, which one would you choose?

That's such a tough question. There's a bit more versatility in California and the weather over there is just so perfect. But I like the vibe in Florida because it's closer to my heart -- I grew up in the state. Actually, I always looked forward at the end of the six months I spent in either city to move back to the other one, but this is actually the first time in four seasons now that I really want to stay longer in Florida. And I don't know what it is, but I would love another two months of shooting this time around.

It's probably the traffic.

The thing about California is that the traffic is always moving, so it seems like it's better even though you're wasting the same amount of time driving. In South Florida, if you can drive down here, you can drive anywhere. It's the only place where you can see a guy swerve from the left lane to the right lane in a matter of 10 seconds.

So, what's your character Daniel Green up to now in Season 4?

He's still working hard in the lab. He's still a jack-of-all-trades and expert of all fields. But we do get a glimpse of Daniel's family life this year--you meet Daniel's brother played by Jonathan Bennett from Mean Girls. Through that relationship, we see a more fiery side to Daniel that we haven't seen yet as an audience, so I'm definitely excited about that coming to light. Daniel grows more and more confident each year and he always has something new to bring to the table.

Are you anything like Daniel in real life?

There are small similarities. I think what you do as an actor is that you find the commonalties, what you share with your character and you expand on that. But specifically, I think we both tend to have a passionate attitude towards life and when we are excited about something we put our heart and soul into it. I wish I could say I'm as intelligent as the guy, but that's far from the truth. Without Google or without my smart phone, I'd be lost.

You mean you don't have slightest bit of knowledge in forensics?

No, no. I've never even been to a morgue. I skipped that field trip. For playing Daniel, it's more about understanding his energy and his quirkiness and the comedic angle he brings to the show, so, for me, I think being a fan of sitcoms growing up and watching shows like Seinfeld and Friends were probably more beneficial to me than watching any kind of crime show.

What is one of your most memorable experiences while shooting?

I had an episode with the actor Sara Fletcher who played Daniel's love interest and we got to see more layers to Daniel's character. We got to peek inside his soul more in that episode than we ever had before.

Aside from that, the pilot episode where we had to deal with a real-life gator, and I'll never forget being inches away from that thing and seeing it get really irritated and thrashing around. For some reason they needed me to stand beside it while it flipped out, putting my life at risk for the pilot series, but I guess it was worth it because I got a contract out of it. It's a good thing I made it out alive that day, so it was a good thing shooting that pilot.

What do fans of the show have to look forward to this season?

I will say that we have an all-star cast this year. We have some major players in the street who will be guest starring and recurring in many episodes this season. We're also getting more into Daniel's family life and we see why Longworth is the way he is. It's always really cool to get to know the background of the lead characters.

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